Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang will be on a four-day visit to Colombia and Costa Rica starting from July 16 to promote greater economic engagement and ties between Singapore and the two Latin American countries.

This is Mr Lim's first visit to the countries.

In Colombia, he will sign the Colombia-Singapore Investment Guarantee Agreement (IGA) with his counterpart Sergio Díaz-Granados Guida, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia.

The IGA was proposed by Mr Diaz-Granados during the state visit of Colombian President Juan Santos to Singapore in May last year.

The IGA serves to promote greater investment flows between Singapore and Colombia. Mr Lim will also meet with Colombian companies and Singapore companies based there.

Thereafter, he will visit San Jose, Costa Rica at the invitation of the Costa Rica Foreign Trade Minister Anabel Gonzalez.

Mr Lim will attend a public conference on "Singapore: Competitiveness, Innovation, Future" and meet Costa Rican business leaders and academia.

The conference marks the entering into force of the Singapore-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement, which came into force on July 1.

The agreement was initiated in December 2008 and concluded in January 2010 after four rounds of negotiations.

This is the third bilateral free trade agreement that Singapore has entered into with Latin American countries, after Panama and Peru.